Mozart Meets Frankenstein
a play
by William M. Razavi
Lights. A parlor. There are chairs and various lat 18th century accoutrements including some sort of piano/harpsichord. Music. Mozart’s Rondo (alla Turca). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, toward the end of his life, plays the piano/harpsichord. His wife, Constanze sits to one side of him. Across from him are Dr. Viktor Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft. They listen actively. Next to Viktor is a young man straining to hear, but betraying little in the way of expression. Mozart finished. Everyone applauds, except for the young man.
CONSTANZE: That was marvelous, Wolfie.
MOZART: It’s a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ selection, I’m sorry to say.
MARY: Nonetheless, they are fabulous creations.
MOZART: You’re very kind, Mrs.–
MARY: Please. Call me Mary
MOZART: Mary.
CONSTANZE: Your friend has been awfully quiet, Dr. Frankenstein. Is he alright?
VIKTOR: I’m afraid he’s quite deaf.
He smiles and nods at the young man, who responds in kind, but slower and with a touch of awkwardness.
MOZART: Well, I’m afraid this evening’s entertainment has been lost on him. Perhaps we should have invited a painter to join us.
VIKTOR: Ludwig can appreciate music quite well.
CONSTANZE: How?
VIKTOR: The vibrations.
MOZART: Ah, the vibrations, I see. You see, Constanze, the vibrations.
Everyone smiles politely and uncomprehendingly.
VIKTOR: Perhaps I should explain.
EVERYONE: Oh, please. Yes, do. If you want to.
VIKTOR: Ludwig can sense the vibrations from the music as they pass through his body. He can distinguish the changes in pattern, and can even remember them and repeat them.
MOZART: But he’s deaf.
VIKTOR: Stone cold deaf.
Pause.
VIKTOR: Deaf as a hammer.
Pause.
VIKTOR: Deaf as a rock.
Pause.
VIKTOR: Unable to hear.
Pause.
VIKTOR: Severely impaired.
Pause.
MARY: How does he repeat the vibrations?
VIKTOR: I found that he has a formidable memory. Once I put him in front of a keyboard and showed him a pattern on the keys he was able to remember it and repeat it. He’s even done several original compositions.
MOZART: But he’s deaf.
VIKTOR: Stone cold–
MOZART: Yes, yes. We got all that.
CONSTANZE: He should play something for us.
MARY: Yes. He should.
MOZART: Why not?
CONSTANZE: Ask him to play something for us.
VIKTOR: Very well. LUDWIG. PLAY SOMETHING FOR US.
Pause.
VIKTOR: ON THE PIANO.
MOZART: Is it necessary to shout?
CONSTANZE: The vibrations.
MOZART: Oh, yes, the vibrations. THAT’S GOOD.
MARY: Have you thought of developing a sign language?
VIKTOR: Absolutely not. I can’t be expected to carry signs around all the time.
MARY: I meant perhaps something with your hands.
CONSTANZE: A hand language? How perfectly vulgar.
MOZART: I like it. This gesture could mean "I want a fruit tart."
Mozart makes an absurd series of gestures.
VIKTOR: Yes. I’ll have to think about that. GO TO THE PIANO AND PLAY SOME MUSIC.
MOZART: I hope you weren’t talking to me. He has such a very commanding voice.
VIKTOR: I need some water. My voice is getting hoarse. Perhaps a sign language would be better.
Ludwig walks stiffly to the piano/harpsichord and sits. He begins to play the same thing Mozart just played. Mozart is visibly annoyed.
MARY: Amazing.
VIKTOR: He’s quite good.
CONSTANZE: He’s playing it just like you, Wolfie.
MOZART: ‘He’s playing it just like you, Wolfie.’ Indeed. He’s a gifted mimic.
MARY: Such nuance.
MOZART: That’s my nuance.
MARY: But set down so perfectly.
VIKTOR: He does have a formidable memory.
Pause. Mozart seethes with foppish rage.
VIKTOR: The vibration.
MOZART: Yes. The vibrations.
CONSTANZE: YOU’RE VERY GOOD.
LUDWIG [Charmingly]: Mrah!
CONSTANZE: Why, thank you.
MOZART: He’s a charming parlor trick.
VIKTOR: The vibrations.
MOZART: Ah, yes. The vibrations.
VIKTOR: Perhaps you’d like to hear one of his original compositions.
CONSTANZE: Oh, yes.
MOZART: I need to get some air and maybe a bit of raw pork.
Mozart exits.
CONSTANZE: I should go. Don’t play anything new until I come back.
Pause.
CONSTANZE: DON’T PLAY ANYTHING NEW UNTIL I COME BACK.
Constanze exits.
LUDWIG: Mrah.
Ludwig stops playing and begins to pick out individual notes.
MARY: I think she’s quite taken with him.
VIKTOR: And what about you?
MARY: I’m not easily taken.
VIKTOR: I see.
MARY: Ludwig is certainly talented. How long has he been your patient?
VIKTOR: Since the beginning.
MARY: The beginning?
VIKTOR: His beginning. It’s an interesting story–
Mozart enters with Constanze, their hair and clothes slightly rumpled.
MOZART: All out of pork. Biscuit?
He offers Mary and Viktor a biscuit.
MOZART: Cracker?
He offers them crackers.
MARY: No, thank you. You were saying about Ludwig…
VIKTOR: Ah, yes. We were having a discussion about the nature of creativity.
MARY: And the essence of creation.
VIKTOR: Well, you might say that Ludwig is the essence of creation.
Pause.
MOZART: Well, say it.
CONSTANZE: Ludwig is the essence of creation?
MARY: Aren’t we all in possession of that essence?
VIKTOR: Some of us have it more than others.
Ludwig plays a tune.
MARY: You’re being very coy, Dr. Frankenstein.
VIKTOR: What if I were to tell you that I can create life?
MOZART: I can create life. I’ve created it several times.
CONSTANZE: We have created life.
MOZART: Yes, we. I stand corrected.
CONSTANZE: You’re not standing.
VIKTOR: And you can’t bring back the dead.
Everyone looks over at Ludwig.
MOZART: He’s dead?
VIKTOR: He was.
CONSTANZE: He’s very lively.
MARY: Who was he?
VIKTOR: Several people.
CONSTANZE: You cobbled him together?
VIKTOR: Cobbled is such a vulgar term.
MARY: What would you call it?
VIKTOR: Piecing together.
MOZART: Where did you find the pieces?
Frankenstein coughs.
MOZART: I didn’t quite catch that.
VIKTOR: Frsh grs.
MOZART: What?
VIKTOR: Fresh graves.
MARY: That’s sick.
MOZART: I write music, you raise the dead. I think we’re about even.
VIKTOR: Can you really compare what you do with what I’ve done?
MOZART: Yes.
VIKTOR: I have given life to the dead.
MOZART: At least my work is original.
VIKTOR: Mostly.
MOZART: Mostly?! Really? I regret I ever offered you a biscuit.
Mozart exits in a huff.
CONSTANZE: Wolfie!
Constanze runs after him. She runs back to Ludwig.
CONSTANZE: I THINK YOU PLAY VERY WELL.
LUDWIG [with humility]: Mrah!
Constanze exits.
VIKTOR: Artists are so temperamental.
MARY: Yes.
VIKTOR: Surely you can see the value of this science.
MARY: No, I can’t.
VIKTOR: Think of the creative power. Think of the potential.
MARY: I am. And I can’t think of any reason for it.
VIKTOR: I can rejuvenate life.
MARY: Life rejuvenates life. What you’re doing is–
VIKTOR: Genius.
MARY: But why?
VIKTOR: Think about it. All tissue deteriorates, all things die. But I can breathe new life into it. Now, nothing needs to die. Friends, family. We can bring them all back. And we can even make them better.
MARY: Like Ludwig?
VIKTOR: Exactly.
MARY: Dr. Frankenstein. You are wealthy, aren’t you?
VIKTOR: Yes.
MARY: Where did your wealth come from?
VIKTOR: I inherited it.
MARY: No more death, no more inherited wealth?
Pause. Ludwig plays the Moonlight Sonata. Mozart and Constanze enter.
MARY: It’s a lovely full moon.
VIKTOR: Yes.
MARY: I hope you don’t get it into your mind to build another one to put next to it.
MOZART: Did you say full moon?
MARY: Yes.
MOZART: I see.
Mozart and Constanze look at each other worried.
CONSTANZE: Maybe we should close up the curtains. It might get drafty.
VIKTOR: Very well. I’ll bet you wish we could have an artificial moon to look at now.
MARY: No. A candle will do.
MOZART: I’ll get that for you.
Mozart lights a candle.
CONSTANZE: Candlelight is so beautiful.
MOZART: By the way, why is your creation deaf?
VIKTOR: It was an unexpected flaw in the head we collected.
MOZART: I see. Couldn’t you fix that?
VIKTOR: No.
Mozart puts the candle next to Ludwig on the piano.
LUDWIG: Mrah!
VIKTOR: What are you doing?
MOZART: I didn’t do anything!
VIKTOR: He hates fire!
MOZART: I can see that!
Ludwig begins rampaging around the room.
CONSTANZE: But it was just a candle.
VIKTOR: He can be unpredictable that way.
LUDWIG: Mrah!
VIKTOR: He snaps into rages.
LUDWIG: Mrah!
Ludwig grabs Constanze.
LUDWIG: Mrah!
CONSTANZE: Let me go!
VIKTOR: LET HER GO.
LUDWIG: Mrah.
MARY: [gently] Let her go.
LUDWIG: Mrah?
Ludwig lets her go.
LUDWIG: Mrah! Mrah!
Ludwig storms off in shame.
MOZART: What a brute!
CONSTANZE: No. Come back. I DIDN’T MEAN TO SOUND LIKE THAT.
MOZART: Where are you going?
CONSTANZE: He was just confused and I hurt his feelings.
MOZART: His feelings.
CONSTANZE: Yes, he was upset because I was angry with him. I have to go let him know it’s alright.
MOZART: You can’t go. What if you go outside? I can’t follow you that far.
CONSTANZE: You don’t have to follow me.
Constanze exits. Mozart waits for a moment, fidgets nervously, then chases after her.
VIKTOR: Don’t look at me like that. This was all unpredictable.
MARY: That’s my point.
VIKTOR: He just has these rages. As if he blames me for–for making him.
MARY: All creations have ingratitude.
VIKTOR: But I’ve been benevolent.
MARY: By your own standards.
Ludwig makes a sound offstage. It is followed by a scream from Constanze and the howl of a wolf.
VIKTOR: I don’t know where I went wrong.
MARY: That’s the main problem.
Ludwig enters carrying Constanze. She is bleeding from the neck.
VIKTOR: Ludwig!
MARY: Constanze!
Ludwig deposits her in a chair while Mary and Viktor crowd around her.
VIKTOR: What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
LUDWIG: Mrah.
MARY: She’s been bitten.
VIKTOR: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!
CONSTANZE: No! Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt him!
VIKTOR: YOU BEAST!
MARY: It couldn’t have been him. Look at this bite.
VIKTOR: It looks like a wolf’s bite.
MARY: Exactly.
CONSTANZE: Don’t hurt him!
The sound of a wolf howling.
CONSTANZE: Don’t hurt Wolfie.
Mary and Viktor look at each other and slowly look over toward the door.
Ludwig plays the piano softly as the lights fade.